Heretofore, it has been common practice to arrange a magnetic conveyor rail to display an elongate, longitudinally extending north polarity adjacent one edge and a cooperating, elongate, longitudinally extending south polarity adjacent the opposite, companion edge. Moreover, highly permeable pole plates have been assembled with permanent magnets to generate the corresponding magnet circuit. These systems have proved useful for transporting unfilled cans, especially 603.times.700 and larger sized cans at speeds of about 150 cans per minute. When systems of this type were used on filled cans in this size range, the results were unacceptable, as the incidences of toppled cans and resultant line jams precluded effective operation. As such, conveyors of the type illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 3,581,872 were employed, which operated, at speeds of only 50 to 100 cans per minute, and more expensive to manufacture and operate.